The Voice is Mightier than the Pen

The Voice is Mightier than the Pen

The hawks and crows made an agreement that they would split everything obtained in the forest. One day, they saw a wounded fox lying helpless under a tree. The crows said, “We will take the upper half.” And the hawks said, “We will take the lower half.” The fox laughed and said to the hawks, “I always thought the hawks were superior to crows and as such they should get the tastier upper half.” “Oh yes, that’s right.” said the hawks. “No, not at all,” said the crows. Then a war arose between the two parties and many were killed. The fox continued there for some days leisurely feeding on the dead crows and hawks and observed, “The weak benefit from the quarrels of the strong.”

Kelly Coughlin is a CPA and CEO of BankBosun, a management consulting firm helping bank C Level Officers navigate risk and discover reward. He is the host of the syndicated audio podcast, BankBosun.com. Kelly brings over 25 years of experience with companies like PWC, Lloyds Bank, and Merrill Lynch. On the podcast Kelly interviews key executives in the banking ecosystem to provide bank C suite officers, risk management, technology, and investment ideas and solutions to help them navigate risks and discover rewards. And now your host, Kelly Coughlin.

Hey this is Kelly Coughlin. I’m the CEO of BankBosun. Selling products and services to banks is a challenge. Frankly selling products to anybody is a challenge. And the more features, benefits and complexities you have to offer? the harder it is. Why? Mind share and attention. The only time you can get mind share and attention from a decision maker is at conferences or an office visit, your website and of course the phone and written communication.

That’s it.

We all know how awkward and challenging it is to search for target prospects at conferences by squinting at the name tags during the social hours. And then looking away when its not a desired target as if they were not worthy of your attention. And then you have the phone. Good luck getting that done. Do you leave a message or not. If you do, you can’t call back for at least 4 or 5 days or you are pestering?and executive secretaries are quite skilled at blocking you. Face to face office visits are ideal?but time consuming, and expensive and those are also tough to get done. You need to advance the prospect a bit down the sales cycle so you are not wasting your time and their time on a prospect who cannot or will not buy from you. The other approach is to write articles or reports. I have certainly done my share of that. But sadly, you will not get a bank executive and decision maker to read a paper longer than three minutes?that’s it.

Here is what your beautifully written report sounds like in the mind of the banker when he reads it:

“My company has been in this industry for over 20 years. We offer superior products and services that meet the needs of our bank customers. We are a strong, innovative, and highly successful company and our employees love to take good care of our customers. And we are so excited to help you compete, succeed and win.”

That’s what your written report sounds like.

So what can you do? Audio. The human voice. Your voice is the key. Audio allows you to show your passion and energy for your company, products and services. Even today, in this world where people are obsessed with digital communications, email, and texting – people are hungry for the communication and connection of the human voice?your voice.

Here is what your report sounds like if you communicate it by audio:

My company has been in this industry for over 20 years. We offer superior products and services that meet the needs of our bank customers. We are a strong, innovative, and highly successful company and our employees love to take good care of our customers. And we are excited to help you compete, succeed and win.

Now, I’m no Robert De Niro?although people say I did used to look like Mel Gibson, in his early years. I wonder if they meant Mel Gibson when he played William Wallace in BraveHeart though?Regardless, hopefully the audio version sounded a little human than the robotic simulated written version.

In addition to a more human connection audio allows executives to multi-task while listening like driving, exercise, watching a sports event on TV. Now, you might ask, if the human voice is so important why don’t I just call them on the phone. Answer: Because you are interrupting them when you call them. And it’s not repeatable and shareable. With a recorded audio podcast, you give your audience the opportunity to hear from you at their time and place of choice in a non-intrusive way.

I propose that one or more representatives of your company?from your CEO down to your product technical specialists be interviewed and recorded. Interviewed by me. Where we talk about your industry; your market space; the needs, issues and challenges your customers face. And what your industry does to help them deal with those needs, issues and challenges and why and how you are so much better and different than anyone else.

They need to HEAR that you know this and that you CARE about them. In short, they need to know why do you exist and why should they care that you exist. This is big picture stuff. Oh and by the way, everyone in your organization should know this.

If you are selling paper clips and post its, maybe this is not as critical. But if you are selling products and services that require buy-in from multiple departments and people including the board, and if there are fairly significant vendor management quality controls and approvals in place, which you certainly have with banks and Dodd Frank regulation, then this big picture stuff is absolutely necessary.

Memorializing your story – the picture – in an audio podcast is so much more effective than sending them a printed document. You will most like want to supplement it with that. By the way we transcribe all our podcasts. But this enables you to tell your story once with the energy and passion it deserves, and then have it told 100 times within the organization through the sharing of the content. It also ensures that your message is told consistently throughout your enterprise. It’s a great way to get your mission, features and benefits in front of your market?and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than multiple office visits.

“Hi Kelly, I would love to increase revenues this year in a cost-effective way. My board and boss are killing me for revenue growth?I could really use some help.”

Or Give me a call at 612-232-6640 to talk?and here is what that sounds like:

“Hey Kelly, I would love to increase revenues this year in a cost-effective way. My board and boss are killing me for revenue growth?I could really use some help.”

Thanks for listening and one final word?FREEDOM!!… that was Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

We want to thank you for listening to the syndicated audio program, BankBosun.com The audio content is produced by Kelly Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of BankBosun, LLC; and syndicated by Seth Greene, Market Domination LLC, with the help of Kevin Boyle.

Video content is produced by The Guildmaster Studio, Keenan Bobson Boyle. The voice introduction is me, Karim Kronfli. The program is hosted by Kelly Coughlin.

If you like this program, please tell us. If you don’t, please tell us how we can improve it. Now, some disclaimers.

Kelly is licensed with the Minnesota State Board of Accountancy as a Certified Public Accountant. The views expressed here are solely those of Kelly Coughlin and his guests in their private capacity and do not in any other way represent the views of Equias Alliance nor any other agent, principal, employer, employee, vendor or supplier of Kelly Coughlin, BankBosun or Equias Alliance.Check out this episode!

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About The Author

Kelly Coughlin is a CPA and CEO of BankBosun, a management consulting firm helping bank C Level Officers navigate risk and discover reward. He is the host of the syndicated audio podcast, BankBosun.com. Kelly brings over 25 years of experience with companies like PWC, Lloyds Bank, and Merrill Lynch. Kelly earned his undergraduate degree (BA) from Gonzaga University and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. Kelly lives in Edina, MN.